Samantha Eggar
Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar (5 March 1939 – 15 October 2025) was an English actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller The Collector (1965), which earned her a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, a Sant Jordi Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Eggar later appeared as Emma Fairfax in Doctor Dolittle (1967) and the American drama The Molly Maguires (1970).
Also recorded as Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar
Samantha Eggar
CBS Television · eBay item photo front photo back · Public domain
- Full name
- Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar.
- Born
- 1939. · Hampstead.
- Died
- 2025. · Sherman Oaks.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Occupation
- actress.
- Fields
- acting, theatre, film and television.
- Education
- Thanet School of Art and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
- Honours
- Golden Globe Awards and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
- Languages
- English.
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Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar (5 March 1939 – 15 October 2025) was an English actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller The Collector (1965), which earned her a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, a Sant Jordi Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Eggar later appeared as Emma Fairfax in Doctor Dolittle (1967) and the American drama The Molly Maguires (1970).
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Samantha Eggar (1939–2025) was a British actor, actress and film actor, among other activities. Born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar in Hampstead, the actor died in Sherman Oaks.
Samantha Eggar studied at Thanet School of Art and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. The actor was active in acting, film and television.
Languages used include English. Samantha Eggar received Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Awards.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q231385 · wikipedia · Samantha Eggar
In this article
Early life
Early life
In the early 1970s Eggar moved to the United States and Canada, where she later starred in several horror films, including The Dead Are Alive (1972), The Uncanny (1977) and David Cronenberg's cult thriller The Brood (1979). Eggar also worked as a voice actress, as Hera in Disney's Hercules (1997) and in several video games, including Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (1999) and as M in James Bond 007: Nightfire (2002). Her television work included roles on Fantasy Island and a recurring part as Charlotte Devane in the soap opera All My Children in 2000.
Samantha Eggar studied at Thanet School of Art and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is acting, theatre and film. Distinctions recorded are Golden Globe Awards and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
Samantha Eggar was born Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar on 5 March 1939, in Hampstead, London, to Ralph Alfred James Eggar, a brigadier in the British Army, and Muriel Olga Palache-Boumam, who was of Dutch and Portuguese descent. Eggar also had Irish ancestry through her grandmother. Soon after her birth, her family moved to rural Bledlow, Buckinghamshire, during World War II, where she spent her childhood. Eggar was brought up as a Roman Catholic and educated at St Mary's Providence Convent in Woking, Surrey. Reflecting on her time at convent school, Eggar said: "The nuns didn't have too much success with me — I've always had a violent temper. In fact, once I almost killed one of the nuns." At age 16 she began to go by the name Samantha. Although Eggar expressed interest in acting at a young age, she was urged against a career in the theatre by her parents. She was offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but instead studied fashion for two years at the Thanet School of Art. After completing her studies she enrolled at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
Theatre and early work
Theatre and early work
Eggar began her acting career in several Shakespearean companies, notably playing Titania in a 1962 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream directed by Tony Richardson. She also appeared on stage in a production of Douglas Seale's Landscape with Figures, where she was noticed by a talent scout. From there she was cast in the biographical film Dr. Crippen (1962) opposite Donald Pleasence. Her second film role was in 1962 in The Wild and the Willing; in the same year she appeared on stage again as Olivia in a production of Twelfth Night by George Devine. In 1963, Eggar played the lead role of Claire Avery in "Marcia", a second-season episode of The Saint. After her appearance in The Saint, Eggar did not make a guest appearance on television for 10 years. In 1965, Eggar appeared in the thriller The Collector, directed by William Wyler, playing a kidnap victim. Of her time working on the set of the film "Ms. Eggar told The Daily Mirror in 1965 that working on the set... was 'the hardest three months of my life;" she noted that during the shoot she lost about 14 pounds. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe award for her performance. She was also awarded Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 1966. The following year Eggar starred in the comedy Walk, Don't Run (1966) with Cary Grant (his last motion picture) and Jim Hutton, followed by a lead role as Emma Fairfax in Richard Fleischer's musical adaptation of Doctor Dolittle (1967). She was linked with roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and Goodbye Mr Chips but did not appear in either. She also appeared in The Walking Stick, a psychological thriller by Eric Till where she costarred with David Hemmings, The Molly Maguires (1970), a social drama directed by Martin Ritt in which she starred with Sean Connery and Richard Harris, and The Light at the Edge of the World (1971), an adventure movie from a novel by Jules Verne in which she shared the screen with Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner. Eggar also played the main character in The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (1970), a thriller based on a book by French novelist Sébastien Japrisot and the last film directed by Anatole Litvak. She then went to Italy to shoot The Dead Are Alive (1972), a giallo directed by Armando Crispino. Although Eggar co-starred with Yul Brynner in the television series Anna and the King (1972), she did not make another television guest appearance until 1973, when she starred in an episode of the romantic anthology series Love Story. That same year she played Phyllis Dietrichson in a TV remake of the 1944 film Double Indemnity.
Move to United States
Move to United States
In 1973, Eggar moved to the United States, settling in Los Angeles, and appeared first in television, guest-starring in episodes of Starsky & Hutch, Hart to Hart and Columbo. She would go on to star in a number of horror films, including A Name for Evil (1973) and Demonoid (1981). During this period, Eggar also appeared in two British-Canadian co-productions, Welcome to Blood City, an early "virtual-reality" thriller directed by Peter Sasdy in which she plays opposite Jack Palance and Keir Dullea, and The Uncanny, a horror movie directed by Denis Héroux. Eggar was also in the Canadian movie Why Shoot the Teacher?, a dramatic comedy filmed in Alberta by Silvio Narizzano that went on to be the most successful Canadian movie that year. But it is another Canadian movie that was to become one of Samantha's best known films, David Cronenberg's cult sci-fi film The Brood (1979). In 1980, she filmed the Canadian slasher film Curtains, released in 1983. She also appeared as Maggie Gioberti in "The Vintage Years", the pilot for the drama Falcon Crest, but was replaced by Susan Sullivan when the series went into production. She appeared twice on The Love Boat in 1979 and 1981. She appeared in the drama Dark Horse (1992), followed by the superhero film The Phantom (1996). In 1997, she provided the voice of Hera in Disney's animated film Hercules; she also supplied the voice for the subsequent television series. Eggar also had a role in the sci-fi thriller The Astronaut's Wife (1999), which starred Johnny Depp. Eggar appeared as the wife of Captain Jean-Luc Picard's brother Robert on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as Sarah Templeton, the wife of Speaker of the House Nathan Templeton (Donald Sutherland), on the short-lived television series Commander in Chief, which starred Geena Davis. In the year 2000, she had a brief run as Charlotte Devane in the American soap opera All My Children. In 2002, she provided the voice of M in the video game James Bond 007: Nightfire. In 2004, she appeared in the first season of Cold Case, episode 14 ("The Boy in the Box") as Sister Vivian. In 2009, she played the mother of Jack and Becky Gallagher in season 1, episode 11 ("Lines in the Sand") of the Fox television series Mental.
Personal life
Personal life
In 1964, she married actor Tom Stern and the couple had two children: film producer Nicolas Stern and actress Jenna Stern. Eggar and Stern divorced in 1971. In the early 1970s, Eggar had an affair with her The Walking Stick co-star David Hemmings. Eggar held dual British and American citizenship, obtaining the latter in 1973.
Death
Death
Eggar resided in Los Angeles, where she died at her home in Sherman Oaks, on 15 October 2025 from chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), at the age of 86. According to her daughter, Eggar had been diagnosed with this illness 22 years earlier.
![Original studio publicity photo of Samantha Eggar. Stamped 1964 on back (not shown). See [1] article for description of publicity stills.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Samantha_Eggar.jpg/500px-Samantha_Eggar.jpg)
Original studio publicity photo of Samantha Eggar. Stamped 1964 on back (not shown). See [1] article for description of publicity stills.
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Hampstead.
Birth place
Sherman Oaks.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Vagg, Stephen. The captive and captivating Samantha Eggar. FilmInk. FKP. 18 October 2025. 1447-0012.
- 2.Biography.com. Samantha Eggar Biography.
- 3.The Private Life and Times of Samantha Eggar. Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen.
- 4.Evans, Greg. Samantha Eggar Dies: 'The Collector', 'Doctor Dolittle' Actress Was 86. Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. 17 October 2025.
- 5.The British Film Institute. Samantha Eggar.
- 6.Erickson, Hal. Samantha Eggar Biography. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 2016. 0362-4331.
- 7.Gale Research Company. Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television. 2004. 978-0787670986.
- 8.Samantha Alive. Evening Standard. 6. 11 December 1967. 2041-4404.
- 9.Vagg, Stephen. Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1962. FilmInk. FKP. 20 July 2025. 1447-0012.
- 10.Barthel, Joan. Samantha Was Slightly Sullen That Day. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 30 May 1965. 0362-4331.
- 11.Zebradelic. Samantha Eggar on The Saint. 2011.
- 12.Archive Television Musings. The Saint – Marcia. 17 January 2018.
- 13.McGregor, Craig. Mod gear melodrama. The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Entertainment. 6. 4 April 1966. 0312-6315.
- 14.Samantha Eggar, Oscar-Nominated Star of 'The Collector,' Dies at 86. 22 October 2025.
- 15.GoldenGlobes.com. Samantha Eggar.
- 16.Festival de Cannes. All Awards. Awards 1965.
- 17.Collecting Life: An Interview with Samantha Eggar. The Terror Trap. July 2014.
- 18.MNMS Holding. Samantha Eggar como comediante. La Nación. 28. 7 December 1966. 0325-0946.
- 19.First Floor Entertainment GmbH. Welcome to Blood City. Caldera Records.
- 20.Samantha Eggar, Star of 'The Collector,' Dies at 86. Extra TV. 17 October 2025.
- 21.Samantha Eggar, British actress who showed a flair for horror in David Cronenberg's film The Brood. The Daily Telegraph. 21 October 2025.
- 22.Bio. Jenna Stern.
- 23.People. Time. 5 April 1971.
- 24.David Hemmings. The Daily Telegraph. 5 December 2003.
- 25.Samantha Celebrates Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee. Samantha Eggar: Official Website. April 2012.
- 26.Dagan, Carmel. "Samantha Eggar, Star of 'Doctor Dolittle', Cronenberg's 'The Brood', Dies at 86". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. 17 October 2025. 0042-2738.
- 27.Andaloro, Angela. Samantha Eggar, Oscar-Nominated Actress from The Collector and Doctor Dolittle, Dies at 86. People. People Inc. 17 October 2025. 0093-7673.
- 28.Koseluk, Chris. Samantha Eggar, Oscar-Nominated Actress in 'The Collector', Dies at 86. The Hollywood Reporter. Eldridge Industries. 17 October 2025. 0018-3660.
- 29.The New York Times. Samantha Eggar, Oscar-Nominated Star of 'The Collector,' Dies at 86. 23 October 2025.
- 30.Gilbey, Ryan. Ian McShane: rogue trader. The Guardian. 16 March 2013. 0261-3077.
- 31.Crowther, Bosley. Dr. Crippen' Stars Donald Pleasence:British Movie Opens at the Paramount. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 15 February 1964. 0362-4331.
- 32.Vagg, Stephen. Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1963 and 1964. FilmInk. FKP. 30 July 2025. 1447-0012.
- 33.Thompson, Howard. Miss Neal and Jurgens Star in British Film. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 30 April 1964. 0362-4331.
- 34.Fowles, John. The Collector. Little, Brown and Company. 2012. 978-0316230209.
- 35.Lofting, Hugh. Doctor Dolittle. Buccaneer Books. 1990. 978-0899666747.
- 36.Graham, Winston. The Walking Stick. Macmillan Publishers. 2013. 978-1447254553.
- 37.Greenspun, Roger. Screen: 'The Lady in the Car With Glasses and Gun':Samantha Eggar Stars in Mystery Story. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 26 December 1970. 0362-4331.
- 38.Verne, Jules. The Lighthouse at the End of the World. Bison Books. 2007. 978-0803260078.
- 39.Weiler, Abraham H. Light at the Edge of the World. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 17 July 1971. 0362-4331.
- 40.Canby, Vincent. 'Seven-Per-Cent Solution' Movie An Exhilarating Collector's Item. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 36. 25 October 1976. 0362-4331.
- 41.Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide. Plume. 2017. 978-0525536192.
- 42.Paris, Barry. 'The Exterminator'. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. 7. 10 November 1980. 1068-624X.
- 43.Paris, Barry. 'The Exterminator'. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Block Communications. 9. 10 November 1980. 1068-624X.
- 44.Cohn, Lawrence. Round Numbers. Variety. 12 June 1992. 0042-2738.
- 45.Giesen, Rolf. Animation in Germany. CRC Press. 188–189. 2023. 978-1032451336.
- 46.Greenwald, David. An author suing the makers of 'Falcon Crest' for. United Press International. News World Communications. 20 June 1984.
- 47.Silva, Gabriela. Samantha Eggar, Oscar-Nominated 'The Collector' Actress, Dead at 86. Men's Journal. The Arena Group. 17 October 2025. 1063-4657.
- 48.TV Guide Magazine LLC. Samantha Eggar. TV Guide. 0039-8543.
- 49.Stenzel, Wesley. Samantha Eggar, Oscar-nominated star of The Collector and David Cronenberg's The Brood, dies at 86. Entertainment Weekly. People Inc. 17 October 2025. 1049-0434.
- 50.Firsching, Robert. All the Kind Strangers (1974). The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 12 November 1974. 0362-4331.
- 51.Champion Media. Innocent kids with deadly obsession. The Robesonian. 17. 10 November 1974. 2474-2236.
- 52.Screen Rant. The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond.
- 53.Gannett. Unlucky Hope Diamond holds aura of mystery. The Ledger. 93. 23 March 1975. 0163-0288.
- 54.O'Connor, John J. TV Reviews; ABC and NBC Movies on Romance and Crime. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Section C, p. 17. 19 February 1987. 0362-4331.
- 55.Hedelt, Rob. TNT: Let a winner show the way. The Free Lance–Star. Lee Enterprises. 29. 14 April 1990. 2157-4979.
- 56.Scott, Tony. Review: 'Barbara Taylor Bradford's Everything To Gain'. Variety. Penske Media Corporation. 11 October 1996. 0042-2738.
- 57.Hal Erickson. Everything to Gain (1996). The New York Times]. The New York Times Company. 11 October 1996. 0362-4331.
- 58.Performance Details – Twelfth Night (Devine, English Stage Company, February 1962). AHDS: Performing Arts.
- 59.Production of The Lonely Road. Theatricalia.
- 60.Klein, Alvin. THEATER; Candlewood Brings Back 'Mame'. The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 9 August 1992. 0362-4331.
- 61.Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The 38th Academy Awards (1966) Nominees and Winners. oscars.org. 4 October 2014.
- 62.Awards 1965 : All Awards. festival-cannes.fr.
- 63.Gannett. Director takes a peek through the looking glass. Detroit Free Press. 25. 25 April 1980. 1055-2758.
- 64.TV Guide Magazine LLC. The Changeling. TV Guide. 0039-8543.
- 65.Golden Globe Foundation. The Collector. Golden Globe Awards.
- 66.TV Guide. Samantha Eggar Biography.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 9
- Borny, Geoffrey. Interpreting Chekhov. ANU E. Press. 2010. 978-1-920-94267-0.
- Cooper, Barbara Roisman. Great Britons of Stage and Screen: In Conversation. Rowman & Littlefield. 2015. 978-1-442-24620-1.
- MacKellar, Landis. Double Indemnity Murder: Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray, and New York's Crime of the Century. Syracuse University Press. 2006. 978-0-815-60824-0.
- Nowell, Richard. Blood Money: A History of the First Teen Slasher Film Cycle. Bloomsbury Academic. 23 December 2010. 978-1-441-12496-8.
- Pratley, Gerald. A Century of Canadian Cinema. Lynx Images Inc. 240. 2003. 978-1894073219.
- Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Plume. 585. 2016. 978-0525536192.
- Booker, Keith M. Historical Dictionary of American Cinema. Scarecrow Press. 412. 2011. 978-0-810-87459-6.
- Monush, Barry. Everybody's Talkin': The Top Films of 1965-1969. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. 22. 2009. 978-1-557-83618-2.
- Warburton, Eileen. Filming John Fowles: Critical Essays on Motion Picture and Television Adaptations. McFarland & Company. 13–34. 2015. 978-0-786-49764-5.
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